Politicians urged to maintain peace

Politicians have been urged to maintain peace during this campaigning period when the country is preparing for August polls and not to alienate voters along religious lines.

While addressing Quakers at Kimalewa Friends church during their regional annual conference, Bungoma County gubernatorial aspirant Alfred Khang’ati said that at this hour, maintaining peace is important. “As leaders let us preach peace during our campaigns and avoid using hate speech and insults that may take the country back to what transpired in 2007/2008,” said Khang’ati, adding that preaching peace will cost the leaders nothing.

Khang’ati stated that NASA coalition has party affiliates whereby each leader should work hard and stabilize their popularity and numbers at the grass roots level, and he urged Ford Kenya leaders to stop being selfish.

“NASA as a coalition has parties under it and each party has fielded candidates on different seats in the whole country, therefore no party is superior,” he said “But remember, ODM has a high stake since the presidential candidate is from ODM, therefore every leader should try his / her best to woo voters. No one is going to step down in favour of a certain leader, so Ford Kenya should not expect any politician in our party to sacrifice his ambition as it was put by our party leader,” added Khang’ati.

Kabuchai MP James Lusweti Mukwe urged supporters of different parties to maintain peace and desist from using insults and causing chaos during rallies, yet politicians themselves are friendly towards each other and can even dine together.

“We are having problems with supporters of different parties, you may find that they fight among themselves, cause chaos in rallies and even heckle leaders who they don’t support when addressing the crowd. Why do they waste their time and energy and yet they are not vying for any seat? Personally, I don’t have any problem with Jubilee, ODM and other leaders from different parties who are contesting in Kabuchai, we talk, greet each other and even dine together without any problem. So our supporters should follow suit because we are pursuing peace,” stressed Lusweti.

Friends (Quakers) members in Kimalewa Church

Benson Mukenda, Kapkateny MCA, condemned the act that happened in Bungoma on Friday 23rd June during the NASA Rally between supporters of ODM and Ford Kenya and urged NASA leaders to strike an agreement and stop conflicts among themselves that may cause Jubilee party to have an upper hand in the region.

“What happened in Bungoma during the NASA rally when ODM supporters chanted the name of Khang’ati as Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwalwe was endorsing Bungoma Gubernatorial aspirant on Ford Kenya party Wycliffe Wangamati was unfortunate and we believe that it won’t be repeated,” said Mukenda.

“As we continue fighting among ourselves in NASA we must be prepared for a Jubilee win,” he warned, “Therefore, the only option is to find an agreement and an amicable solution.”

Pastor Moses Maratani, who led the service, emphasized the importance of peace and wanted leaders to unveil their manifesto to voters peacefully and let people themselves decide on who to give votes bearing in mind that a good leader is God given.

“As the country is heading to the general elections let leaders embrace peace and leave the voters to cast their votes according to the manifesto of a politician who is worth it, but one thing you should keep in mind is that any leader comes from God,” said Maratani.

The Conference that brought together members from four Quarterly meetings i.e Bokoli, Miendo, Kimalewa and Teremi that from Bokoli region under Lugulu Yearly meeting began on Friday 23rd June and ended on Sunday 25th June.